State media and witnesses say that rebel fighters and their families have begun leaving their last bastion in the Syrian city of Homs, under an evacuation deal with the government expected to be among the largest of its kind.

The first few buses carrying rebels and their families drove out of Al Waer district on Saturday morning, heading for rebel-held areas northeast of Aleppo city.

Talal Barazi, the Homs governor, told Reuters news agency that about 1,500 people would depart for Aleppo's countryside on Saturday, including at least 400 fighters.

Russian and Syrian forces were overseeing the evacuation, and the full departure of rebels from Al Waer would take about six weeks.